Re: The Savage Brawl [Round 4: Small 50s Town]
06-28-2011, 01:14 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by slipsicle.
The locals had mustered up a decent force surrounding the house, and had long ago stopped sending teams in to "investigate", as none had ever returned. The officers that had arrived earlier now shifted nervously as the backup they'd expected half an hour ago hadn't yet shown, and the things they were hearing over the radio...
Not that the condition of the house did any better to console them, or the scattered upstanding citizens that stood with them. Strange sounds emanated from within, sparking lights and metallic groaning. A wall cracked. A window shattered. The roof surged, and from within the house burst strange, black, metallic spires, shaped like narrow prisms.. They consumed the structure in a chaotic whirlpool of destruction, and from their edges burst smaller prisms, and from them still smaller, until a hazy black fuzz seemed to surround each spire. They moved and rotated in strange ways, their motions difficult to follow with the naked eye, despite their seemingly slow movements. From their center walked a one-armed silver man, with a severely marred, shining metal face, barely resembling anything any of the onlookers recognized as human.
Hoss walked towards them, as the machine he'd built continued to power up. The Von Neumann nanobots he'd constructed from the material he'd gathered had spent the last half-hour consuming the house, replicating themselves, and assembling into the structure that had blossomed behind him.
It would not, unfortunately, last very long. He had constructed it to serve one purpose, just to see if it would work; he wasn't even sure it would.
He approached the barrier the townsfolk had set up. They raised their weapons, aiming at him.
It was at this moment that the ships appeared above the city. Hoss looked up. The townsfolk looked up. They looked back down at Hoss. He looked at them. He took a step forwards, and the men threw down their weapons and ran.
Hoss turned back towards the seething mass of black spires, and looked towards the ships beyond them. This must have been what that new entity had meant. Even in his debilitated state, he observed their technology to be inferior to his own, though substantially more advanced than anything he'd find in this cruel replica of his ancient home. Should they detect his activities and choose to intervene, he had confidence he could respond effectively.
In the meantime, he had some catching up to do...
---
He opened his eyes to a familiar room, and a familiar face. "Greetings, dear sister. You look worried."
The girl's face twitched back to neutrality. "You failed to arrive when Rheinhardt and I reviewed the response to our message. I... could think of no reason why."
Hoss smiled. "It is of no concern. I was occupied, you see, in the construction of a device which might puncture the barrier between universes. In its construction, I have learned much. But that can wait. First, you must tell me, what is the current state of multiversal affairs?"
The girl raised an eyebrow. "Response to Rheinhardt's initial message was overwhelming. We encountered substantial interference in the reception of the messages, but learned enough to broadcast a second message, with your designs on reconfiguring devices to broadcast on their own."
The girl paused, and Hoss pondered. "Interesting. Continue."
"I have just been through another round transition. Unfortunately, it was triggered by Rheinhardt's death."
Hoss grimaced. "Well, it was always his purpose to die. I had just hoped he'd last a bit longer."
"There's more. Just before the round transition, I was in... opposition with two worryingly knowledgeable persons. The first was a Minotaur."
Hoss seemed to take the information in stride, so the girl continued.
"He knew more about me than I'm comfortable with, and seemed to know more than he was letting on. From what I've been able to gather, he must work for a Grandmaster. And he was specifically trying to kill me. The other was a young human woman. She was able to track me in my element, and that I know little else about her indicates a disturbing competency with secrecy and information manipulation. It is possible that the Grandmasters know about our Network. Perhaps they do not know its true purpose, but they are at least aware of the existence of a resistance."
Hoss frowned. "This is troubling news indeed." He paused, as his sister apparently had more to say.
"Finally... I have been receiving multiversal messages intermittently since that first foray, and I recently received one I believe you should hear."
Hoss nodded, and a woman's voice filled the room.
“Fellow contestants,” the regal voice began. “My name is Empress Phere, and I come bearing grave tidings. Lord Vandrel Reinhardt was unfortunately perished, cruelly cut down in his attempts to free you from the shackles of the Grandmasters. I submit that I shall stand in his stead, that I shall take the fight to the Grandmasters. I will expose their weaknesses and if you work with me I promise to liberate you from this awful game and return you to the lives that you have been so cruelly torn away from. This I swear to you.”
The transmission ended, and Hoss looked back at his sister.
"Well, this will not do. Return to your battle, sister. I have work to do."
They both vanished, and the room was empty.
---
Back in the town, Hoss's machine was nearly ready. He stepped back, and prepared to watch the results of his prototype. The spires began to churn faster, and the entire mass began to lift. A strange humming filled the air. The mass of black metal began to pulsate, and then the air around it seemed to pulsate, expanding, contracting, expanding. Light began to do odd things at the mass's edges, and objects obscured by the floating metal began visible around its edges. Objects around the street began to tilt towards it, as intense gravitational forces pulled objects towards the mass.
---
Chief Astrophysics Officer sounded like an important title on paper, until you considered that invading armies rarely had need of someone to analyze proton density or variations in the cosmic microwave background radiation. So when Chief Astrophysics Officer Bal'vlorth detected anomalous gravitational readings on the planet's surface, he naturally jumped at the opportunity to get some analyzing done.
What he found though, was worrying. Not only did they indicate a wormhole was forming down there, they also indicated a confusing array of other types of radiation, and the way those gravitational stress-bands were interacting... he'd only seen that kind of interaction in theoretical papers.
One thing was clear, though. Someone was trying to build a bridge to another universe.
---
The pulses of bent space became larger and more violent, until suddenly, in one massive pulse, a hole in space tore open, and a frozen, undead giant was birthed from its convulsions. The Giant fell forwards as it once again experienced gravity, and behind it, the hole vanished, taking the mass of black spires with it.
---
Bal'vlorth's officer leaned over his shoulder, scrutinizing the readings. "Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes! There's no other explanation for these readings, here, look," Bal'vlorth pulled up another screen, "see here, this Higgs field is approaching energy density levels that-"
Bal'vlorth's instruments went crazy at the same time alarms began to sound across the ship. His superior looked up. "We'll deal with this later. There's an emergen-"
"I know there's an emergency! Look!" Bal'vlorth pointed at a video feed of the source of the anomalous readings. An enormous, gaping black maw had erupted above the town, and through it fell a severely vacuum-burned, disemboweled, giant humanoid.
---
Hoss would grin, had he still his artificial skin. The Giant's eyes glowed a slight blue from the technological enhancements that had spent the last round spreading through his body.
Data from the original nodes he'd buried within the Giant relayed their findings to him, and more importantly, they relayed information about their journey through the multiverse. Hoss restrained his glee. This information, combined with what he'd learned from building the device that had brought the Giant over, was exactly what he needed.
He looked at the Giant. Its usefulness towards his larger goals was spent. Still, though, it could prove useful in keeping his varying opponents occupied.
Hoss walked over to the Giant's foot, and placed his left arm against it, injecting a few spare Von Neumann automatons into the Giant's body. The machines would both consume and rebuild the Giant's body, fusing with the Giant's natural magical abilities, to create what Hoss hoped would be the first fusion between magic and technology. He gave the newly cyborgified zombie fresh instructions; those being, "destroy and consume," pointed it in a general direction, and let it wreak havoc.
As it strode off, Hoss returned to where the black machine had been, ignoring the sounds of explosions behind him. A small pool of silvery liquid lay at the bottom of the pit where the house had been. Hoss dipped a finger into the pool, issuing new instructions to the spare nanobots laying in the pool, whose execution the self-replicating automatons eagerly set about. The edges of the pool dissolved and consumed the concrete and dirt foundation of the pit, while in the center a small, silvery device seemed to solidify into existence. Its shape was mostly spherical, marred only by an indentation in the shape of a human hand. Hoss picked up the device, and tendrils from his hand connected to it. He turned it towards himself, and a small light in its face, opposite the hand print, activated. Hoss looked directly into the light, and spoke.
The locals had mustered up a decent force surrounding the house, and had long ago stopped sending teams in to "investigate", as none had ever returned. The officers that had arrived earlier now shifted nervously as the backup they'd expected half an hour ago hadn't yet shown, and the things they were hearing over the radio...
Not that the condition of the house did any better to console them, or the scattered upstanding citizens that stood with them. Strange sounds emanated from within, sparking lights and metallic groaning. A wall cracked. A window shattered. The roof surged, and from within the house burst strange, black, metallic spires, shaped like narrow prisms.. They consumed the structure in a chaotic whirlpool of destruction, and from their edges burst smaller prisms, and from them still smaller, until a hazy black fuzz seemed to surround each spire. They moved and rotated in strange ways, their motions difficult to follow with the naked eye, despite their seemingly slow movements. From their center walked a one-armed silver man, with a severely marred, shining metal face, barely resembling anything any of the onlookers recognized as human.
Hoss walked towards them, as the machine he'd built continued to power up. The Von Neumann nanobots he'd constructed from the material he'd gathered had spent the last half-hour consuming the house, replicating themselves, and assembling into the structure that had blossomed behind him.
It would not, unfortunately, last very long. He had constructed it to serve one purpose, just to see if it would work; he wasn't even sure it would.
He approached the barrier the townsfolk had set up. They raised their weapons, aiming at him.
It was at this moment that the ships appeared above the city. Hoss looked up. The townsfolk looked up. They looked back down at Hoss. He looked at them. He took a step forwards, and the men threw down their weapons and ran.
Hoss turned back towards the seething mass of black spires, and looked towards the ships beyond them. This must have been what that new entity had meant. Even in his debilitated state, he observed their technology to be inferior to his own, though substantially more advanced than anything he'd find in this cruel replica of his ancient home. Should they detect his activities and choose to intervene, he had confidence he could respond effectively.
In the meantime, he had some catching up to do...
---
He opened his eyes to a familiar room, and a familiar face. "Greetings, dear sister. You look worried."
The girl's face twitched back to neutrality. "You failed to arrive when Rheinhardt and I reviewed the response to our message. I... could think of no reason why."
Hoss smiled. "It is of no concern. I was occupied, you see, in the construction of a device which might puncture the barrier between universes. In its construction, I have learned much. But that can wait. First, you must tell me, what is the current state of multiversal affairs?"
The girl raised an eyebrow. "Response to Rheinhardt's initial message was overwhelming. We encountered substantial interference in the reception of the messages, but learned enough to broadcast a second message, with your designs on reconfiguring devices to broadcast on their own."
The girl paused, and Hoss pondered. "Interesting. Continue."
"I have just been through another round transition. Unfortunately, it was triggered by Rheinhardt's death."
Hoss grimaced. "Well, it was always his purpose to die. I had just hoped he'd last a bit longer."
"There's more. Just before the round transition, I was in... opposition with two worryingly knowledgeable persons. The first was a Minotaur."
Hoss seemed to take the information in stride, so the girl continued.
"He knew more about me than I'm comfortable with, and seemed to know more than he was letting on. From what I've been able to gather, he must work for a Grandmaster. And he was specifically trying to kill me. The other was a young human woman. She was able to track me in my element, and that I know little else about her indicates a disturbing competency with secrecy and information manipulation. It is possible that the Grandmasters know about our Network. Perhaps they do not know its true purpose, but they are at least aware of the existence of a resistance."
Hoss frowned. "This is troubling news indeed." He paused, as his sister apparently had more to say.
"Finally... I have been receiving multiversal messages intermittently since that first foray, and I recently received one I believe you should hear."
Hoss nodded, and a woman's voice filled the room.
“Fellow contestants,” the regal voice began. “My name is Empress Phere, and I come bearing grave tidings. Lord Vandrel Reinhardt was unfortunately perished, cruelly cut down in his attempts to free you from the shackles of the Grandmasters. I submit that I shall stand in his stead, that I shall take the fight to the Grandmasters. I will expose their weaknesses and if you work with me I promise to liberate you from this awful game and return you to the lives that you have been so cruelly torn away from. This I swear to you.”
The transmission ended, and Hoss looked back at his sister.
"Well, this will not do. Return to your battle, sister. I have work to do."
They both vanished, and the room was empty.
---
Back in the town, Hoss's machine was nearly ready. He stepped back, and prepared to watch the results of his prototype. The spires began to churn faster, and the entire mass began to lift. A strange humming filled the air. The mass of black metal began to pulsate, and then the air around it seemed to pulsate, expanding, contracting, expanding. Light began to do odd things at the mass's edges, and objects obscured by the floating metal began visible around its edges. Objects around the street began to tilt towards it, as intense gravitational forces pulled objects towards the mass.
---
Chief Astrophysics Officer sounded like an important title on paper, until you considered that invading armies rarely had need of someone to analyze proton density or variations in the cosmic microwave background radiation. So when Chief Astrophysics Officer Bal'vlorth detected anomalous gravitational readings on the planet's surface, he naturally jumped at the opportunity to get some analyzing done.
What he found though, was worrying. Not only did they indicate a wormhole was forming down there, they also indicated a confusing array of other types of radiation, and the way those gravitational stress-bands were interacting... he'd only seen that kind of interaction in theoretical papers.
One thing was clear, though. Someone was trying to build a bridge to another universe.
---
The pulses of bent space became larger and more violent, until suddenly, in one massive pulse, a hole in space tore open, and a frozen, undead giant was birthed from its convulsions. The Giant fell forwards as it once again experienced gravity, and behind it, the hole vanished, taking the mass of black spires with it.
---
Bal'vlorth's officer leaned over his shoulder, scrutinizing the readings. "Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes! There's no other explanation for these readings, here, look," Bal'vlorth pulled up another screen, "see here, this Higgs field is approaching energy density levels that-"
Bal'vlorth's instruments went crazy at the same time alarms began to sound across the ship. His superior looked up. "We'll deal with this later. There's an emergen-"
"I know there's an emergency! Look!" Bal'vlorth pointed at a video feed of the source of the anomalous readings. An enormous, gaping black maw had erupted above the town, and through it fell a severely vacuum-burned, disemboweled, giant humanoid.
---
Hoss would grin, had he still his artificial skin. The Giant's eyes glowed a slight blue from the technological enhancements that had spent the last round spreading through his body.
Data from the original nodes he'd buried within the Giant relayed their findings to him, and more importantly, they relayed information about their journey through the multiverse. Hoss restrained his glee. This information, combined with what he'd learned from building the device that had brought the Giant over, was exactly what he needed.
He looked at the Giant. Its usefulness towards his larger goals was spent. Still, though, it could prove useful in keeping his varying opponents occupied.
Hoss walked over to the Giant's foot, and placed his left arm against it, injecting a few spare Von Neumann automatons into the Giant's body. The machines would both consume and rebuild the Giant's body, fusing with the Giant's natural magical abilities, to create what Hoss hoped would be the first fusion between magic and technology. He gave the newly cyborgified zombie fresh instructions; those being, "destroy and consume," pointed it in a general direction, and let it wreak havoc.
As it strode off, Hoss returned to where the black machine had been, ignoring the sounds of explosions behind him. A small pool of silvery liquid lay at the bottom of the pit where the house had been. Hoss dipped a finger into the pool, issuing new instructions to the spare nanobots laying in the pool, whose execution the self-replicating automatons eagerly set about. The edges of the pool dissolved and consumed the concrete and dirt foundation of the pit, while in the center a small, silvery device seemed to solidify into existence. Its shape was mostly spherical, marred only by an indentation in the shape of a human hand. Hoss picked up the device, and tendrils from his hand connected to it. He turned it towards himself, and a small light in its face, opposite the hand print, activated. Hoss looked directly into the light, and spoke.